The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority says it is fining Goldman Sachs $650,000 for failing to disclose that the government was investigating two of its brokers. One of the brokers was Goldman vice president Fabrice Tourre. FINRA says Goldman did not have the proper procedures in place to make sure that…
A federal bankruptcy judge has approved a settlement involving Citigroup Global Markets Inc. agreeing to repay $95.5 million to clients who sustained auction-rate securities related-losses. The ARS were told by Citigroup to LandAmerica 1031 Exchange Services Inc. before the latter folded in 2008. The ARS had been valued at about…
In a default judgment, The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington is mandating that investment adviser Enrique Villalba and affiliated entities pay investors over $20 million. The 47-year-old has been sentenced to almost 9 years in prison for defrauding clients of over $30 million. Most of the…
The U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut has rejected defendants Stewardship Investment Advisors LLC and Marlon Quan’s challenge to the appointment of Poptech LP as the lead plaintiff in a class securities fraud lawsuit filed by investors. The plaintiffs are accusing the investment firm and Quan of violating…
“On May 6, 1010, the New York Stock Exchange was intentionally shut down for 90 seconds by those in charge,” recounts Shepherd Smith Edwards and Kantas Founder and Securities Fraud Lawyer William Shepherd. “When this happened there was no market (bid and ask quotes) for many large cap stocks, except…
M37 Investments LLC, M25 Investments Inc., Jeffery Lyon, and Scott Kear Sr. have settled for $16.2 million Commodity Futures Trading Commission charges involving the alleged defrauding of over 200 individuals in a foreign currency scheme. Many of the investment fraud victims were senior investors. The Texas securities fraud agreement was…
At a recent New York City Bar gathering, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara said that not only is insider trading “rampant” and likely “on the rise,” but also, that identifying, probing, and prosecuting this securities fraud crime has become much harder. Bharara’s speech was…
Along with Connecticut regulators, the Securities and Exchange Commission is charging Southridge Capital Management and its hedge fund investment manager Stephen M. Hicks with financial fraud. The two are accused of fraudulently overvaluing portfolio assets. According to the SEC, Hicks fraudulently misstated the assets’ acquisition price when he overvalued the…
A Financial Industry Regulatory Authority arbitration panel has ordered UBS AG to pay two clients $529,688 over their purchase of Lehman Brothers Holdings notes. The investors, Steven and Ellen Edelson, were told that they were buying “structured products, some of which were “principal protected.” Between 2006 and 2008, the Edelsons,…
Four ex- San Diego officials will pay $80,000 in fines to resolve municipal bond charges by the US Securities and Exchange Commission for allegedly misleading investors. Never before has the SEC obtained financial penalties against a city’s officials for municipal securities fraud. By agreeing to settle, ex-San Diego City Manager…